Papillon
King Berenger Papillon was the ruler of Torlynn Castle from unctual year 3867 to 3887. The nephew of the previous king, he was the last recorded member of the family to carry on the name. He was an obese and unkept man, with long, greasy hair and all sorts of nasty crud under his fingernails. Papillon loved live entertainment, and had recruited the most talented local dancers with the edict that they would entertain him or they would die. Not surprisingly, they learned to dance very well. (Even after he was no longer in power, the skilled dancers remained to entertain the populace at the annual Torlynn Fair.) At some point during his rule, Papillon ventured into the Swordedge Mountains with one hundred soldiers, looking for a baby dragon to make his pet. He encountered a dragon who decimated his army, agreeing to spare the King's life if he delivered all the gold in his kingdom to the beast. After the King's health began to fail, the dragon amended the bargain, promising a vial of his own blood to the King—purported to be a cure-all that would prolong his health and grant him long life. Desperate for a cure for his condition, the King agreed to make regular shipments of gold to the dragon until it covered the floor of the dragon's keep. After learning of the existence of the moth people, Papillon sent a team of knights to find their colony, knowing full well that they would be killed. It was his intention to use the incident as the impetus to wage war upon the moths—indeed, upon all aerials—to create jobs and generate additional revenue. He even hired the pirate crew of the Mermaid's Bliss to hunt for aerials and offered a substantial reward for any that they captured. Papillon also held death matches in the tournament arena next to Torlynn Castle, pitting captive creatures against each other for sport. These included wyverns, monoceri, and dragon beetles, who were set loose on each other or against hapless criminals of the state. All the ticket sales for these events were additional revenue that he could ship to the dragon's keep in the Swordedge Mountains. Perhaps the most intriguing creatures he'd managed to capture, however, were a band of butterfly people who had been captured by moths and whom his knights had intercepted. When "Four" Wheeler pretended to capture Mariposa and turn her in for the offered bounty, Papillon inadvertantly revealed that he recognized Mariposa's species, thus tipping off Four that the King had seen the butterflies and must be keeping them in the castle. After the tournament event in which Mariposa fought a dragon beetle to the death, Four bluffed his way out of the arena, warning Papillon that her butterfly army would invade Torlynn if he did not set her free. Later, Four and Mariposa organized an invasion against Torlynn to rescue the captive butterflies, cornering Papillon in his throne room. They gave Papillon a vial of the dragonsblood, but he responded by stealing Mariposa's jeweled sword and threatening them. What he failed to realize was that the jeweled sword was cursed, and in the brief time he possessed the weapon, it drew the moth arrows through the castle window and directly to him. He fell from a tower window and plummeted to his death. Papillon was succeeded, briefly, by "Four" Wheeler, before Four abdicated the throne. Behind the Scenes King Papillon's name sometimes appears in the novels as King Papillion, with an erroneous extra "i." The word papillon is French for "butterfly," and his name is pronounced "puh-pee-YAWN." Category:Humans Category:Rulers Category:Villains Category:Deceased